Heller reaffirms his opposition to CFPB

Despite White House pressure on Sen. Dean Heller (R-Nev.) to vote in favor of the nomination of Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Heller has confirmed he would vote no.

Stewart Bybee, Heller’s spokesman, said that Heller previously met with Cordray and had a good conversation with him. The Senator, however, will still vote against Cordray because he opposes the way the bureau is structured, LVRJ.com reports.

The Senate is scheduled to vote on Cordray’s nomination on Thursday.

Heller and 44 other Republican Senators sent a letter to the White House vowing to block the nomination of any director on the grounds that the Dodd-Frank Act provided the position too much power over the financial industry and did not give Congress the authority to control the bureau’s budget.

Cordray, who is the former Ohio attorney general, needs 60 votes to win confirmation. Seven Republican Senators would need to vote in favor of Cordray in order to meet that mark. So far, only one, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) has said that he would vote for confirmation, according to LVRJ.com.

The White House continues to put pressure on a handful of Republican Senators from swing states.